Henceitisthattheprophetsoneandallprefacetheiraddressessoconfidently，’TheWordoftheLord，’or’ThussaiththeLord。’
Theyhaveeventheaudacitytospeakinthefirstperson，asifJehovahhimselfwerespeaking。AsinIsaiah：’Hearkenuntome，OJacob，andIsraelmycalled；IamHe，IamtheFirst，Ialsoamthelast，’——andsoon。Thepersonalityoftheprophetsinksentirelyintothebackground；hefeelshimselfforthetimebeingthemouthpieceoftheAlmighty。”[325]
[325]W。Sanday：TheOraclesofGod，London，1892，pp。49-56，abridged。
“Weneedtorememberthatprophecywasaprofession，andthattheprophetsformedaprofessionalclass。Therewereschoolsoftheprophets，inwhichthegiftwasregularlycultivated。Agroupofyoungmenwouldgatherroundsomecommandingfigure——aSamueloranElisha——andwouldnotonlyrecordorspreadtheknowledgeofhissayingsanddoings，butseektocatchthemselvessomethingofhisinspiration。Itseemsthatmusicplayeditspartintheirexercises……ItisperfectlyclearthatbynomeansalloftheseSonsoftheprophetseversucceededinacquiringmorethanaverysmallshareinthegiftwhichtheysought。Itwasclearlypossibleto’counterfeit’prophecy。Sometimesthiswasdonedeliberately……Butitbynomeansfollowsthatinallcaseswhereafalsemessagewasgiven，thegiverofitwasaltogetherconsciousofwhathewasdoing。[326]
[326]Op。cit。，p。91。ThisauthoralsocitesMoses’sandIsaiah’scommissions，asgiveninExodus，chaps。iii。andiv。，andIsaiah，chap。vi。